This recent piece of mine is a 60"x40" acrylic on canvas work that I am tentatively calling "1508A." I pose a question to you: do you think works of abstract art should have names that are representational, or refer to non-abstract things? Likewise, do you have any ideas for titles for this painting?
I was initially trained as a realist painter but found much more freedom in both the rebellious and illuminating nature of abstract work. I tired of replicating that which we see everyday, and even that which we can imagine, for all of that is also in itself solipsistic and only referential; the value I found in abstract work is that it essentially creates itself and visually presents that which can remove the viewer from any grounded perspective. A viewer of an abstract work has two ways to go: 1.) look for representational and personified images in the abstract piece (e.g. find what appears to be a face, or tree, or building or skyline from a purely random abstraction), or 2.) be severed from all his or her memory and understanding when faced with an incongruous and isolating, almost alien image. From my perspective, the encounter with something undefinable that momentarily distances one from all the knowledge and established perception that he or she brings, this is the ultimate value of abstract art.
There is little in life that occurs in our daily lives which we cannot categorize and, in our own ways, compartmentalize and "understand." How often are you faced with something you have no way to understand or talk about--it's rare, as most of the time even the most bizarre occurrences can be spoken of. Even if an alien in a flying saucer landed in your backyard you would still be able to "understand" the occurrence insofar as you already have the culturally-established image of an alien and his saucer craft. However, if an alien showed up in your backyard in some completely unusual and never-before perceived or imagined manner, you would have a different reaction. Your reaction would be a completely pure one, as your mind would not be immediately labeling your perception as, "an alien in a flying saucer"....rather your mind would be quiet; it would be idle; and in that vacuum you would truly perceive and listen. For me, this is the true value of abstract art, for not only can it distance you from your culturally/biologically-defined "self" (for both the artist and the viewer), but it presents your quieted mind with a mirror, a question, a void, a giant silence in which time essentially stops; in that fleeting instance you are untied from the physical, from the expected, from ego, knowledge and time, as you come face to face with the living present, that which is beyond most everything we understand and worry ourselves with in our day to day existence.
So for both a creator or viewer of abstract works, I say give into the "unknown." Fight the urge to immediately try and make sense of something. It is into the great silence that we rarely step, yet it is also from this great mysterious silence that everything, including ourselves, has emanated.
Merry Christmas!
Beard
Wow! This is a great post! You are going to do very well on Steemit. I like this abstract painting of yours. I see so many different things in it like broken glass/mirror, two faces, two necks... I see less of the face of the one on the left. I see pain and confusion... I can go on but I'll stop right now. Very well done @thebookofbeard.
Oh and I have no idea for a name.
Hey @lhkent! Thanks for the kind words....and that's cool to hear what you see!
Untitled
Perhaps that could be the name for every painting of mine :)
If you don't give it a title then people will see whatever they see but if you do give it a title you will be directing their view of the artwork.... If you give it a title then it should be a title that is also abstract. Does that make any sense?
Exactly: that is precisely why I'm prone to just give it a number title, and then it won't direct the perception of the viewer.
'Broken Sun'
I think even in your proposed scenario of an unfathomable alien appearing, the human mind would still be whirring away trying to classify it. We are trained from birth to label, compartmentalise and box things. What would freak most people out would be whatever this alien entity did that did not conform to the ideas already bubbling away in their head.
Anyway, beautiful piece and merry xmas to you too!
Thanks! It is somewhat like a broken sun, is it not....a fractal sun blown to pieces or something. And I hear you; we would definitely still be working to classify an alien in the backyard--I mean it would be a frightening and sublime moment unparalleled with anything the person had ever encountered. Though I do think there is a difference between an alien landing in a craft and appearing versus say something we could not even comprehend--a pure abstraction [say the alien arrives as the presence of some galactic portal of liquid light or merely an otherwordly perception that is beyond our senses but which greatly impacts us somehow and makes itself known]. In the latter case I think the momentary experience would be more of the "blown mind/mouth-agape" kind of reaction that renders all thought useless, whereas the alien landing in a craft would momentarily make one much more quickly 1.) jump into action (since we have already culturally-classified the occurrence of an alien in a craft) and 2.) assess how to deal with the situation. I'm mainly focusing on the momentary experience of some object, and how distanced the viewer is from all "knowledge" and memory in that short instance--the more abstract the object or overall experience the more the onlooker is left alone in his or her great silence....in essentially an almost meditative and pure state, and I feel herein there are positive effects. Thanks so much for making me define and think about it more! & I hope Santa is good to you this year
Hehe - this sounds like something that would happen to someone on a DMT trip :)
Hope your xmas is lovely too!